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Benefits of a hydration belt, vest or pack

I never run without my hydration belt.  It's part of my running attire and I feel naked without it.  It doesn't matter the duration or intensity of the workout or the weather, I always have a sport drink with me in my hydration belt.  If you are a long distance athlete, you've likely experiences several pronounced and uncomfortable symptoms related to unsuccessful fueling/hydration methods. Headache, dehydration, swelling, bloating, sleepiness, lethargy, lack of appetite, nausea, chills, fatigue, deep muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness are not just performance limiting but they are also extremely risky for your overall health. Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise can help you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations. Proper fueling/hydration also minimizes the stress load to help keep your body in better health. Proper fueling/hydration in training also helps you practice fueling strategies for competition as you can train the gut ...

Becoming more adventurous - one ride at a time.

  Karel loves adventure. He's always curious about the unknown.  Karel loves discovering new bike routes. Sometimes this means getting lost, sometimes this means finding a road that goes nowhere. I can't tell you how many times Karel has ventured out on a bike ride (road, gravel, tri, mountain bike) without any idea as to where the road goes. He has no fear riding somewhere new.  Over the past 16 years, Karel's adventurous soul has rubbed off on me. But I was not always this way. For almost 14 years of our relationship, I would question Karel and would feel so uncomfortable, scared and fearful riding somewhere for the first time - especially when I knew that Karel had no idea where he was going. But over the past two years, I've learned to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to bike riding. Although I often have the immediate thought of "I can't do this" I try to quickly dismiss that thought and open my mind to new experiences.  Although it hasn't ...

Nutritional Considerations for Evening Workouts

  I love our Tuesday night workout. Karel and I leave our house at 4:40pm and ride to Donaldson. This takes us around 75-minutes to cover 17.5 miles. To get to the group ride, we bike mostly on the Swamp Rabbit trail with a few miles on the road and two short sections on gravel. I love the start of the ride because it serves as a great warm-up before we meet the Spinners A-Group at 6pm. Plus, it's so much better than sitting in the car for 40-minutes to drive to the group ride. There are several others (probably 10-20) that ride to and from the group ride, which makes it fun to chat before and after the ride.  The A-ride includes a police escort (everyone chips-in $5) for safety as the group of 50+ riders loops around the "Perimeter." We do 5 loops which comes to around 37 miles. The ride is around 90 minutes depending on the speed of the group. The ride is fast and it requires so much focus. There are a lot of surges as the riders in front try to breakaway and then the g...

Cesta Z Mesta Ride

I was really looking forward to our Saturday long ride. We are continuing to build up our weekly cycling mileage as we prepare for our first attempt at the 7-day Haute Route Alps from August 21st-27th. In addition to our triathlon training (Note to self: IM Lake Placid is in a month), we are putting in a lot of quality riding. Whereas two weeks ago I was on the struggle bus getting back into structured training, this past week I felt really strong and fresh. My body came around and I felt like I was recovering well from my training sessions. On Monday we did an EZ 1 hour spin, Tues was the Spinners A-group ride (3:43/69 miles - we ride to/from the group ride) and Wednesday we went mountain biking for almost 3 hours (24 miles). Thursday I had a private bike skills session with an athlete (90 minutes). In total, before Saturday I had ridden for almost 10 hours.  On Friday evening, Karel mapped out our Saturday ride and called it Cesta Z Mesta - in Czech it means "The Road Out of T...

It's National Triathlon Week!

  It's  National Triathlon Week! "National Triathlon Week is a nationwide initiative to celebrate the sport of triathlon and all of the members of the multisport community. This week is geared toward education, celebration and participation in the multisport lifestyle." Triathlon has been part of my lifestyle for the past 16 years. It's given me so much and has helped me through some really tough times. The swimbikerun lifestyle has taught me how to overcome obstacles, love my body in motion and to experience the rewards that come with hard work, patience and enjoying the journey.  I've learned so much since my very first triathlon. You may see me as this triathlete.... But this is how it all started...... When I participated in my very first triathlon (2003), I knew little about the sport. As a collegiate swimmer, I felt extremely comfortable with the pool swim but I had little open water experience. Once the swim was over, I found myself filled with anxiety. The...

Our "MINI" YOLOMITES Ride

On June 15th I received a group the weekly email from Jeff M., which highlighted the weekly/weekend rides and past events in and around Greenville. The email was promoting an upcoming ride called the Yolomites (which combines YOLO - you only live once and DOLOMITES - cycling heaven in Italy). Last year I heard about this local curated event and ever since, it had been on my mind. I love doing physical feats for the first time and I have never ridden over 115 miles. The Yolomites ride is as follows (starting from Lex Mullinex Park) First Loop: Watershed, Mine Mtn, Skyuka, White Oak, Hogback, Grade, Green River Switchbacks, down watershed to car. 77 miles, ~10,000ft of climbing. Second Loop: Watershed, Olivet, down Olivet, down Watershed back to car. 26.5 miles, ~2600ft of climbing.  Third and fourth Loop: Cliffs - Mountain Summit to the very top, North side of Panther, back down Panther, Down Mountain Summit, back to car. 25 miles, ~3800ft of climbing  Total: 130 mile...